The Saga Of Revenge

2

Sarvayoni's:

Armaan Abas Khan is the most popular character in The Appy Lane.

Friendly and respected that I or anyone else had barely heard him addressed otherwise but with his first name followed by an endearing suffix that varies from person to person.

The younger ones would call him Armaan Bhaijaan (brother). The elderly people would address him, Armaan Beta (son), and people his age would often be heard calling him with different endearments. All in all, he is regarded and appreciated for his refreshing tea and the accompanying gossip.

Because Armaan Bhaijaan is an omniscient...

His popularity amongst the hardworking laborers isn't earned in a day or two. It has taken him exactly twenty years to establish himself in Appy Lane. Twenty years, plus a tea stall and a healthy number of connections with the sahibs (officers of the port), Ayesha (Madam of the Tawaivada: the most influential brothel of Cape Comorin), and the newspaper delivery boy (who delivers newspapers early in the morning and in the afternoon and serves as a helper in the Alpha Mansion rest of the time).

Armaan Bhaijaan was eleven when he was brought to Cape Comorin as a slave. His father had died at the early age of twenty-nine defending the Alpha King Atharva and his mother was pregnant with a fifth were-woman. Being the eldest in the house, he had little choice but to crush his dreams underneath the overbearing burden of responsibilities.

During the early years of miserable poverty and struggle, he used to perform odd jobs at various places- a sweeper in Tawaivada, where he was later promoted to be a janitor. A shoeshiner when the Tawaivada was raided and temporarily closed on the grounds of minor sex slavery. A car cleaner for a rich vampire from the Middle East. A fetcher when the said vampire was arrested in a smuggling case, and Begger when he could not find anything else to do.

It was all until the day he had decided he had had enough of begging from door to door and rented the same tea stall that he owns today. He started his business with the help of Madam Ayesha, whose sister later tied the knot with Armaan Bhaijaan and became family.

In the next ten years that followed, Armaan Bhaijaan has it all-a house, a mate, and pups.

Bhaijaan's influential customers knock in the morning after spending a pleasurable night at Tawaivada and fill him up with 'insider news'. They'd be generous in leaving handsome tips in exchange for getting to know 'what's hot in the brothel, who had spent the night with whom, and who is the freshly brought virgin exclusively for the sahibs.

Armaan Bhaijaan, being an excessively talkative person, would vomit all the details in a snap without regrets. His ways could be unethical, but it is his way and he has earned it.

He has become an inspiration for every new slave wolf that is thrown into the miseries of Appy Lane. He also became a messiah by lending money to the needy at moderate rates. Presently, a man in his late forties, Armaan isn't only famous but admired amongst his peers for his generosity.

The man is a gem for a person in the heart. His aura is so divine that I often forget that he is a werewolf (therefore an enemy) and not a serpent who crawls. A year back when I'd stumbled my way into the Lane, Armaan was the man who introduced me to Mad-Manish and asked him to take me for a job.

'He is lewd but pays honestly. Don't fall into his trap or you will end up in a hospital bed undergoing parturition.' He had warned us. He helped me then. I am sure he will help me now.

'You think it will work?' Avika asks, eyeing the crowded tea stall unassuredly. Her eyes narrow at Armaan Bhaijaan's guffawing face before it averts to me.